Deux heures moins le quart avant Jésus-Christ (1982)

Deux heures moins le quart avant Jésus-Christ is a French film comedy first released in 1982, directed by Jean Yanne.  The film stars Coluche, Michel Serrault, Jean Yanne, Françoise Fabian and Michel Auclair.  It has also been released under the title: Quarter to Two Before Jesus Christ.  Our overall rating for this film is: good.


At Rahatlocum, a Roman colony in North Africa, the natives are growing restless under the heel of their imperial masters.  Chariot-repair man Ben-Hur Marcel elects himself as the world’s first trades’ union leader but ends up being arrested at a public demonstration.  The colony governor offers Ben-Hur the choice of an ignoble end in the arena or a chance to redeem himself by joining in a plot to kill Cesar during his stay in the colony.  Our hero opts for the latter but, unwittingly, he ends up in a gay bar, where he mistakes Cesar for a fellow conspirator.  Meanwhile, the period’s other despotic queen, Cleopatra, is making her way to Rahatlocum, with the intention of marrying Cesar.   She is not impressed by the reception she gets but at least she is reunited with her long lost brother. Who’d have thought that a humble chariot-repair man would be pharaoh of Egypt..?

Enormously popular in its day, Deux heures moins le quart avant Jésus-Christ proved a successful vehicle for French master of comedy, Coluche.  Since its release in the early 1980s, many of the jokes have lost their appeal and there is more than a whiff of political incorrectness about the whole thing.  However, it just about passes muster as French cinema’s answer to the Monty Python film The Life of Brian (1979).  The film was written and directed by Jean Yann, who is best known for being an actor despite pursuing a simultaneous career as a writer and humorist.

In contrast to most historical productions, this film throws historical accuracy to the wind and relishes in its use of anachronisms (the Romans apparently had telephones and watched the birth of Christ on TV).  Portraying Julius Cesar as a mincing queen is a nice touch – particularly as the character allows Michel Serrault to reprise his outrageous role from La Cage aux folles – but things such as this do make the film feel horribly dated and self-indulgent.   Although many of the jokes are specific to French culture of the day, and so are likely to be missed by a non-French spectator, much of the comedy still manages to work.  Thanks to gloriously O.T.T. performances from Colouche and Serault, and some lavish production values, this makes a fairly entertaining romp through the anals – sorry that should be “annals” – of history.

© James Travers 2007

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